World Building in Film & TV: The Essential Steps If you’ve ever enjoyed losing yourself in the world of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, you know how important world building is. After all, world building is what makes us suspend our disbelief and fully sink into a

15 Inspiring Ava DuVernay Quotes for Writers & Filmmakers As the first black woman nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director, Ava DuVernay is ushering in a new era for black filmmakers. Initially starting as a journalist with a CBS internship, DuVernay quickly became disillusioned with the field

What’s Your Personal Writing Process? In screenwriting, sometimes the biggest challenge is discovering the most effective writing process That Works For You. For example, each and every writer has a different approach to how they: summon key plot points establish characters use subtext utilize themes generate dialogue control pacing optimize

20 Great Patty Jenkins Quotes for Writers & Filmmakers Filmmaking didn’t come easily to Patty Jenkins. After many years working as a painter she realised her true passion was film. She then spent 8 years working as an assistant cinematographer on commercials and music videos. After years of hard

How to Nail Your Movie Theme: What is Your Screenplay Actually About? What is your screenplay about? What is your movie’s theme? These may seem like obvious questions. But many experienced script consultants will tell you that a common frustration in reading hundreds of screenplays professionally is that often

Bold Screenplay Structure: 10 Great Examples A great script requires great dialogue, great characterization and layered conflict. One of the most crucial elements however, screenplay structure, is occasionally taken for granted. Effective screenplay structure is the axis around which the rest of the story revolves, yet it can drift

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 2 Welcome to Original Characters, an ongoing series of Industrial Scripts articles examining the most original characters to appear in both TV and film. Want to view the whole series? Here’s the link. What is an Original Character? What is an original character? It’s a

15 Genius Foreshadowing Examples in Film and TV Foreshadowing is typically used to enhance the audience’s experience of the intended themes and messages of the movie or TV show they are watching. Foreshadowing definition : a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite a full-blown

10 Fantastic Internal Conflict Examples Internal conflict is a powerful and absolutely essential tool used by writers and filmmakers in drama. These ten examples, as well as the internal conflict definition below, definitively prove it. Most, if not all, of the great TV shows and films are rife with

This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Rob Sprackling. A screenwriter known for his work on THE QUEEN’S CORGI (2019) and GNOMEO AND JULIET (2011) The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH,

15 Fascinating & Eye Watering Screenwriting Salaries It may seem hard to believe in the tricky early years of the screenwriter but it’s undeniably true: if you can build it well enough, they’ll come. Screenwriting at the highest level usually means big, big money. Screenwriting salaries can come in

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap for mainstream movies: not

How to Write a Whodunnit A whodunnit is more a narrative structure, than a genre (although one could easily argue it’s a sub-genre). That’s why it can be presented in the form of a thriller, a horror, a mockumentary and even a comedy. The structure encompasses everything from the

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap for mainstream movies:

25 Great David Lynch Quotes Screenwriters and Filmmakers Can Learn From A master of surrealism, David Lynch is very much the king of crazy within Hollywood. His enigmatic 1977 cinema debut ERASERHEAD is still to this day one of the most shocking, experimental body horrors ever made. He then

An Honest WriterDuet Review by Industrial Scripts WriterDuet is a software for writing and editing screenplays, focused on being modern, intuitive, and user-friendly. It’s got a variety of different and innovative functions, such as real-time collaboration online and offline editing even tools that tell if your script has passed

19 Awesome Denis Villeneuve Quotes About His Creative Process Denis Villeneuve began his career as a film-maker in his native Canada, as part of the National Film Board of Canada to produce a series of self-shot documentaries. He has had a career that has spanned 29 Years and has

Thriller vs Horror – What Are the Critical Differences? In terms of movie genres, Thriller and Horror are often mistakenly confused, or even lumped in together. The truth is, both genres have critical macro and micro differences. But as they share some structure and themes, it’s easy to lose

Generating Script Ideas – 5 Top Tips Whether you’re sitting down to write your first script or are an experienced writer writing your tenth screenplay – where you get your script ideas from can be tricky. There are a number of easy ways to help get your creative juices flowing

How to Write a Coming-Of-Age Movie As its name implies, a Coming-Of-Age movie focuses on the growth of the main character from youth to adulthood. In this context, it’s quite common and logical that most of these stories revolve around the high school years, especially 12th-grade senior year. Leaving

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite a full-blown

This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Tom Daley of eOne Entertainment. The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS Series: Part 1 Welcome to Original Characters, an ongoing series of articles that will examine the most original characters to appear in both TV and film. What is an Original Character? What is an original character? It’s a character that sticks with you even when they’re

Crafting Ideas for Great Movie Titles: Your 5-Step Guide It is often argued that the first 5 pages of your script will make or break your chances in screenwriting ,at least in terms of making that initial first impression on busy script readers, development executives and producers. First impressions

How to Write Outstanding TV & Movie Loglines: The ULTIMATE Guide There’s no doubt about it: A fundamental step in the initial stages of writing a screenplay is devising the perfect Logline. Having the ability to create a concise and effective summary of your story is a big step

15 Inspiring Russo Brothers Quotes for Filmmakers The career of the Russo Brothers has been anything but conventional. From independent cinema, through award-winning TV to shattering box office records with the second half of the Avengers series, this American directing duo have constantly shown that quality and the possibility

There’s often an element of mystery or confusion surrounding script analysis services. Sitting at home, watching a bad film or TV show, it’s the easiest thing in the world to play “backseat writer.” The thinking goes: “I could write better than that. All I have to do is write something

In our Genius Character Reveals series we examine scenes and moments where a film or TV show reveals a tremendous amount of character information in a compressed amount of screen time. This instalment focuses on Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), the neglectful husband accused of murder in the Gillian Flynn, David

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite a full-blown

This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Doug Mankoff of Echo Lake Entertainment. The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, many of whom were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it, the book delivered a structural screenwriting roadmap: not quite

This month’s featured industry guest at The Insider Interviews is Kitty Kaletsky of Black Bear Pictures. The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer

15 Great Frederick Forsyth Quotes Writers and Filmmakers Can Learn From Frederick Forsyth Quotes Frederick Forsyth is a celebrated English author, journalist, former spy and political commentator. Having been the youngest pilot to qualify with the RAF, a journalist in East Berlin during the Cold War and travelled the

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not quite join-the-dots,

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not quite join-the-dots,

The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can view all the series’ previous guests

Period drama “Period drama” is a slippery term. Typically, it means a project set in a time period that’s older than recent memory. (While STRANGER THINGS is set in the period of the 1980s, it’s unlikely anyone would refer to it as a “period piece”.) But where to begin when facing

One of the world’s most popular screenwriting books , Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat has brought clarity and a sense of direction to thousands of screenwriters, who were looking for the logical extension of Syd Field’s work. If you’re not familiar with it the book delivered a structural roadmap to writers: not

Legendary writer-director John Hughes was responsible for a string of iconic teen films from the 1980s onward. And yet without the characters feeling like real teenagers (with Cameron Frye in particular, to the fore), the films wouldn’t work. The audiences wouldn’t care. People still argue that in PRETTY IN PINK

15 Great Ryan Coogler Quotes Ryan Coogler’s career path is the envy of many aspiring filmmakers. Off of the success of a festival-acclaimed indie drama, FRUITVALE STATION, he brought his own personal touch to back-to-back blockbuster hits CREED and BLACK PANTHER. If he has any filmmaking tips to share,

The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch these here. The Insider Interviews now exist

BACK TO THE FUTURE Video Essay Not content with dominating blockbuster filmmaking as a director, the ’80s saw Steven Spielberg become a producing powerhouse. He brought his Amblin touch to the generation-defining likes of GREMLINS, POLTERGEIST, THE GOONIES and also BACK TO THE FUTURE. After several box office failures,

PADDINGTON 2 video essay PADDINGTON was that rare, quintessentially British film that found success around the globe. So there was little surprise when the studio confirmed PADDINGTON 2. Paul King returned to direct. David Heyman (of HARRY POTTER fame) returned to produce, through Heyday Films and StudioCanal UK. Paul King

THE SOCIAL NETWORK They’re making a film about Facebook? Commentators greeted news of the project with scepticism. But with a tight script from Aaron Sorkin (THE WEST WING) and clinical direction from David Fincher (GONE GIRL), THE SOCIAL NETWORK has proved to be one of the modern era’s best –

The Insider Interviews series started in 2010 as a set of recorded interviews, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Gareth Unwin, who produced THE KING’S SPEECH, Ben Wheatley and Hossein Amini, the Oscar-nominated writer of DRIVE and THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. You can watch these here. The Insider Interviews now exist

15 Great Mike Judge Quotes After gaining a Physics degree from the University of California, Mike Judge put his science career on hold. The Ecuadorean-born American would go on to create some of the most influential American animated comedies of the 90s, including BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD and KING OF THE